I like a very dark house, just black. I sit there and just think. Once I’m still and quiet inside, I’ll begin. It’s very personal; it has to be.
BOBBY MCFERRINEach of us might give that phrase a different meaning. It’s open to interpretation, and one song becomes a thousand songs. I love that.
More Bobby McFerrin Quotes
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The audience is like my instrument. It’s not just me up there, it’s collaborative.
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Here’s a little song I wrote. You might want to sing it note for note. Don’t worry, be happy.
BOBBY MCFERRIN -
If I sing “you broke my heart, you left me flat,” everyone knows exactly what that means – they know the story. But if I sing a line that’s plaintive or wailing, people can experience their own set of emotions and their own story.
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Improvisation is the courage to move from one note to the next.
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Musicians are the architects of heaven.
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I’d actually been making my living as an organist with bands since I was probably 15 or 16 years old, and then as a senior in high school I put together a jazz quintet called The Bobby Mack Jazz Quintet.
BOBBY MCFERRIN -
It’s not that I don’t love the song. My songs are like my children: some you want around and some you want to send off to college as soon as possible.
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One song may be Bach, the next blues, a song from TV, or a nursery rhyme or jazz piece.
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When we listen to improvisational jazz, or solo classical violinists, the way they phrase and inflect melodies feels vocal, like they’re talking to us.
BOBBY MCFERRIN -
Music is so powerful, it needs to be used for some kind of redeeming work. To lift peoples spirits, to lift their souls.
BOBBY MCFERRIN -
Each of us might give that phrase a different meaning. It’s open to interpretation, and one song becomes a thousand songs. I love that.
BOBBY MCFERRIN -
The voice gets to the soul of a person more than any other instrument. Because it’s the voice. It sings talks, it cries, it laughs, it squeals, it barks, it shouts it whispers, There is no other instrument that can do that. We’re born with it.
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Don’t just play the licks you know. We’re all improvising all the time – it’s good to recognize that and embrace it.
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If I have a mission it’s to make everyone who comes to my concerts leave feeling a heightened sense of freedom to play, sing, and enjoy themselves.
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I do a lot of performing, but don’t get a chance to go to the studio and write good music.
BOBBY MCFERRIN